Speakers
Description
This forum will feature four panelists sharing their language teaching experience using systemic functional theory (SFT), which sees language and other modes as tools for meaning-making across content and context. Each panelist will share their classroom practice, discussing and reflecting on challenges and benefits of applying SFT to their teaching, so that speakers and attendees can together discover how teachers and students can benefit from SFT’s application to language teaching.
Abstract section 1: Relevance
Grounded in a century of thought and progress in linguistics, SFT offers a solid base for language teachers to work from since it is an appliable theory (Halliday, 2008; Caldwell et al. eds 2022) of how language functions in context. This is particularly relevant to Japanese EFL classes. For instance, many EFL learners have limited opportunities for writing in secondary school (Mulvey, 2016), yet they are expected to produce paragraphs and reports in English upon entering university. Moreover, while traditional pedagogic grammar continues to be the structural foundation for language learning at school, it offers little guidance on effective communication.
Abstract section 2: Contribution/research questions
In this panel discussion, panelists show how teachers can use SFT in language classrooms and beyond to help students develop their meaning-making potentials. Before our discussion, we will introduce foundational concepts like the representation of meaning and how relationships between participants are construed in language and other modes (Halliday & Matthiesson, 2013; Kress & van Leeuwen, 2020), and genre, which patterns meaning in a staged, social, and goal-oriented manner (Rose & Martin, 2012).
Abstract section 3: Content/method
After introducing systemic functional theory, each presenter will share and discuss classroom practices to demonstrate how SFT can inform language teaching. Current topics include: the application of SFT genre-based teaching to develop students’ writing proficiency; a simplified implementation of SFT to help students analyse corporate messaging; training future secondary school English teachers in SFT’s application to effective lesson planning; and how scientists can use system networks to accurately use the English article system.
Abstract section 4: Outcomes/results
Overall, this panel discussion will both introduce key applicable features of SFT and the panelists who teach in different tertiary contexts will share their experiences of how they have implemented it and discuss the issues and insights they have encountered through doing so. Panelists may also present research insights discerned through their application of elements of SFT. From this, the audience will learn how SFT is appliable to a variety of teaching situations depending on the purposes of the class and student needs, and through discussion they can explore how they may use it in their own classrooms and beyond.
Abstract section 5: References
Halliday, M. A. K. (2008). Working with Meaning: Towards an Appliable Linguistics. In J. Webster (Ed.), Meaning in Context: Strategies for Implementing Intelligent Applications of Language Studies (pp. 7-34). Continuum.
Halliday, M. A. K., & Matthiessen, C. M. (2013). Halliday's introduction to functional grammar. Routledge.
Kress, G., & Van Leeuwen, T. (2020). Reading images: The grammar of visual design (3rd ed). Routledge.
Mulvey, B. (2016). Writing instruction: What is being taught in Japanese high schools, why, and why it matters. The Language Teacher, 40(3), 3–8. https://doi.org/10.37546/JALTTLT40.3
Rose, D., & Martin, J. R. (2012). Learning to write, reading to learn: Genre, knowledge and pedagogy in the Sydney School. Equinox Publishing.
| Title | SFT for FLT: Systemic Functional Theory in Language Teaching |
|---|---|
| Teaching Context | College and university education |